Spanish group ARAEX adds Priorat and Jerez to portfolio

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 22 June, 2017

ARAEX Grands Spanish Fine Wines is in the process of adding producers from two further DOs to its country-wide collection of estates, bringing Priorat and Jerez into the fold.

Speaking to Harpers at Vinexpo, ARAEX export director Stanley Moss said: “We will be launching two new growers, one from Jerez, one from Priorat, and these will be the last major parts of our portfolio that we believe are missing.”

“Jerez will be our own project, a joint venture working with one of the top three producers,” he added. “Jerez is unique - white wine is made all over the world, but Sherry is different and we want people to understand this.”

In Priorat the company will be adding an independent estate to its stable, along the model of Luis Canas in Rioja, which retains its own identity but is marketed and distributed by ARAEX, joining the other estates under the broader ARAEX umbrella.

The names of the new additions are likely to be unveiled later this year when the deals are complete.

The Vitoria-based company, which has grown from its Basque roots, initially as a grouping of bodegas in Rioja Alavesa, has since added producers from nine DOs to its portfolio in the past 25 years, including the most recent estate, Gorka Izagirre, in Txakoli country.

With wines ranging from Rueda and Ribera del Duero to Navarra and La Mancha by way of Cava, the addition of Priorat and Jerez aims to complete a spread that takes in the most important quality DOs across Spain.

ARAEX celebrates its 25^th anniversary in June 2018, having been founded by entrepreneur Javier Galarreta in 1993, with the involvement of consultant Michel Rolland, initially bringing together a group of winegrowers from Rioja Alavesa, before embarking on an ambitious expansion plan.

The company is now a leading producer and brand owner in Spain, exporting upward of 11 million bottles annually to over 70 markets globally.

Further plans are in the pipeline for an innovative approach to distribution in its key UK market of wines currently not already with importers and distributors, with an announcement expected this autumn.

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